 The NHS claims bill has rocketed since the mid 1990s |
Nearly �8bn has been set aside over the next 10 years to deal with the rising cost of medical negligence cases. The �7.8bn pot will cover compensation claims and legal bills, which have rocketed from �1m a year to more than �500m annually since the mid 1990s.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb, who obtained the government figures, said it was a shocking amount.
But the Department of Health said the sum would cover the worst case scenario and was less than 1% of the NHS budget.
Up to 7,000 claims are submitted to the NHS Litigation Authority each year.
In 2004-5 compensation pay-outs for clinical negligence claims came to �502m - down on the 2001-2 peak of �696m but much higher than the �1m figure in 1996-7.
The government is planning to take steps to try to cut back on the rising costs by introducing an NHS Redress Bill.
The legislation, promised in the Queen's Speech, is expected to make it easier to settle claims out-of-court and cut back on legal costs from long-running cases.
Mr Webb said: "These figures are shocking. The provision for clinical negligence claims is rocketing. It is about time that the system for settling claims was streamlined.
"Much more needs to be done to prevent these sorts of incidents happening in the first place.
"The NHS needs to move away from the blame culture of the past, where staff are afraid to admit when mistakes occur.
'Worst case'
"A more open culture would allow staff to learn from mistakes and improve the system to reduce the number of clinical negligence claims in the future."
The Department of Health said the figures were a "worst case" scenario, referring to the number of outstanding claims, incidents that have already happened for which there have been no claims yet and the expected claims in the future.
A spokeswoman added: "Occasionally patients do not receive the treatment they should, and mistakes are sometimes made.
"If this happens, patients deserve to be told and compensated if appropriate through a fair and timely process."
Dr Gerard Panting, of the Medical Protection Society, a doctors' insurance body, which advises doctors on legal issues, said the figure needed to be kept in context.
He added the recent rise in NHS negligence costs had come about through higher pay outs and legal bills, rather than more claims.
About two thirds of the NHS bill is taken up by high value cases, many of which top �1m.
Dr Panting said: "The reasons costs are going up is to do with increasing legal costs and pay outs. It is costing the NHS more to deal with these claims, rather than a rise in the number of claims which have remain roughly stable."
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These figures are shocking
